Until Proven Guilty
by Summer261997
Summary: Strange things are happening at Hogwarts, and Rose finds herself and her family being accused of crimes they didn't commit. Now, she may find the unlikeliest of allies in a boy who surely couldn't possibly be on her side. Scorpius Malfoy.
1. Nose Weasley

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter series (but I kind-of wish I did because it's amazing). **

**As you can see, this is a Rose/Scorpius fanfiction. Please enjoy and if you have time, maybe, pretty please, review? Haha, anyways, enough of my blabbering. Go on, read my story. Yeah, go ahead, do it. Why are you still reading this? The story's underneath this unnecessary rant. Okay, with out further ado, begin...NOW!**

**CHAPTER #1 - Nose Weasley**

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><p>"…yeah, it's pretty annoying when girls flock me at every corner. But somehow, I get by. Sometimes I think my life would be so much easier if I was ugly, but then I see an ugly person and my heart goes out to them. It really does. I feel so bad for ugly people."<p>

I settled for an almost silent groan instead of pointedly showing this guy how utterly mind-numbing hearing him speak was. I admit, the only reason I had agreed to even go out with Aaric Ashmore in the first place was because of boredom. Boredom, and the fact that James had bluntly told me about a week ago that I was going to die an old, single hag. In order to prove him wrong, I had stupidly decided to accept Aaric's invitation to go on a date with him. And that right there was how I ended up spending my perfectly good Friday evening in the Great Hall with a wanker who thought he was the hottest living thing at Hogwarts.

I had never really dated, so I couldn't actually compare Aaric to anyone. But even I had enough common sense to know that any tosser who hit on everything that even remotely resembled a female was no good. Stupid James; it was all his fault. His and Albus's. They were probably just having a lovely time back in our dormitory. I would get them back for this soon, though.

"Oi!" Aaric said.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. For the past hour I figured that I may as well have been a muggle with how little attention I was receiving from Aaric. I was so taken by surprise that I looked at him, for the first time that night, with any amount of interest – waiting for him to continue.

"Are you going to drink your pumpkin juice? If not, you should give it to me. I've drunk all of mine, you see, and getting another one would take far too much effort right now."

He didn't even wait for my reply, the brainless twat – just grabbed my pumpkin juice and gulped it down.

My jaw dropped slightly. This was absurd! Merlin's beard, how on earth did I end up on a date with a guy like _this_?

"Aaric …" I began.

He wasn't listening to me. By now, he is rattling on about the first time he rejected a girl, and how heartbroken she was for weeks after that.

"Aaric!" I screamed.

Well, that got his attention…and everyone else's within twenty feet of us. I tried to keep a stoic face and prayed that my face wasn't as red as I imagined it to be. A few seconds later, the light chatter resumed around us and Aaric was quiet for what was probably the first time in his life.

"This… This has been fun, believe me," I lied smoothly. "But I really must be going. I promised Albus and James I'd be back before eight. You know how my cousins are…"

Annoying and useless, that was how they were. And I was going back for no reason other than the fact that I was going to knock the two fools out. Dumbledore himself would have to rise from his grave to stop the wrath that was about to befall his precious school.

"No worries, Nose," He said. "I'll see you later, then."

I stilled. …Had he just called me 'Nose'? Nose, as in a protrusion in vertebrates that houses the nostrils which admit and expel air in juxtaposition with the mouth?

He had to be kidding me. Although, apparently he wasn't, since he showed no hint of cracking up anytime soon. He simply got up from the table, smacked me on the shoulder, and began walking out of the Great Hall back to his dormitory. It was official, to Aaric Ashmore I was 'Nose'. Nose Weasley. Huh, it had a ring to it. Who freaking knew…

After taking in exactly what had happened, I finally stood up, somewhat dazed. The name kept replaying itself in my head. Nose Weasley. Nose Weasley. Nose, Nose, Nose, Nose. It was like a mantra that wouldn't stop playing inside my head. For all these years, the only part of my name I had actually liked was Rose. Honestly, Weasley wasn't the most flattering of names, so I had always figured my first name would be what got me through life. Besides, after I'd get married, I'd change my last name anyway. But now… I was Nose. That was just peachy.

I made my way to Gryffindor Tower, the House practically the entirety of Weasley-Potter's were sorted into. Albus, James, Lily, Hugo and I were all in Gryffindor. Different years, of course, but still Gryffindor. James was a year older than Al and me. We were in fifth year, James was in sixth. Lily, on the other hand, was in third year along with Hugo, my only sibling.

I finally reached the Fat Lady that guarded the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. I spoke the password to her; she bowed, and let me in. I stepped through the circular hole behind the portrait and found myself in the Common Room.

Immediately, I spotted Al and James lounging by the fireplace. Furious, I marched over there and soon found my hand descending in an arc which, in the process, made contact with James's head.

"Hey!" He yelled, looking up.

When he realized it was me, he unsuccessfully attempted to hide his laughter.

"So, how was the date, Rosie?" He smiled teasingly. "Made a new friend, have we?"

I hit him over the head again. Al laughed in the background.

"I think she's mad," He whispered loudly to James.

"I think so too," He whispered back, before turning to face me once more. "So, I'm guessing you're still as single as ever? Did the poor bloke run off by any chance?"

I debated whether I should hit him again, but decided against it this time.

"No. In fact, he liked me so much that he even gave me a pet name," I said.

I left out the part about the pet name being Nose, and that I had been called that mostly because Aaric had failed to care enough to even recall my actual name.

"Any chance you'd tell us who he is?" Albus asked.

"Not at all," I countered.

"Oh, was it that creepy fourth year who stared at you at dinner last night?" James chuckled. "I hope you know that I will not accept him as a cousin-in-law. I mean, the heart wants what the heart wants, but that bloke was just odd."

"The one with the peculiarly shaped head and the goatee?" Al questioned.

When James nodded solemnly, Al shuddered.

"Har bloody har," I scoffed. "Wouldn't be laughing too hard there, Al. I was going to break the news gently to you, since you're my cousin and all, but I'm not feeling too sympathetic right about now. Matthew asked Sumaira out today and she said yes. Laugh about that!"

I thought it would get him, but he just smiled.

"Try again, Rosie," He said warmly. "I don't like Sumaira anymore. The new target of my affection, the apple of my eye, is none other than the beautiful Elevina Pierce, and Elevina very much single…for now."

He sighed, and the sigh seethed of infatuation. I groaned.

"Give me a break," I muttered, discouraged.

Albus and James exchanged looks.

"Was it really that bad?" James asked, suddenly much more serious.

"Doesn't matter," I replied.

He shook his head, "Rose, even though I'll always make fun of you—"

"Thanks."

"Even though I'll always make fun of you," He said, louder this time. "I do care so… just don't feel bad about one lousy git, alright?"

A smile played on the corners of my mouth. I could never stay mad at anyone who said such sentimental things to me.

"What he said," Al seconded.

This time, a smile broke free on my face.

"You two are so cliché," I said, yawning a little. "I'm going to go sleep early."

With that, I left.

Even though Al and James drove me mad daily, I loved them both more than my own life and I knew they loved me the same way. I was truly lucky to have them.

I shook my head; this was far too sappy for me. Instead of continuing this line of thought, I changed into my PJ's and got into bed. The snow was falling against my window, the grayness clouded over Hogwarts outside, and the snowflakes gently hit against the glass.

I exhaled. Sometimes, days like today really got me down. But life wasn't too bad, and the proverbial tomorrow always had the potential to be better than today.

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><p><strong>AN ~ Okay, was that good enough for the first chapter? Yeah, I know, I haven't introduced Scorpius into the story yet, but that's because I sort-of want you to get to know some of the characters first before I jump into anything. Now, if you really liked it, maybe you'll review? Please? ...Don't review if you hated it, or I'll cry every day for the rest of my life. Haha, but this is my first fanfic so forgive me if it wasn't up to your standards. Just give me a chance and I'll do better! (Hopefully.)**

**- Anna B. **


	2. Mondays

**DISCLAIMER: So... I sort-of, kind-of don't own Harry Potter. If you don't know who does, you are beyond help. Please Google it before reading my story (or after, what ever levitates your pumpkin -yes, that was indeed my variation of 'whatever floats your boat'-). **

**Anyways, so here's Chapter Two! I worked super duper hard on it (well, not really, but I'd like you to think I did), so if you'd be a doll and pretty please with a cherry on top review my story, I won't send my Dementor army after you. **

**_CHAPTER #2 - Mondays_**

It was morning. It was Monday. Need I say more?

It's not that I wasn't a Monday, or morning, for that matter, person… I just wasn't really a school day person. I liked the weekends and all of the silence that came along with them. Somewhat groggily, I dragged myself off of my bed and began getting ready for an exciting day of learning! Or not… Don't get me wrong, I loved school and, not to brag, I was the best in our year but…something about today just felt…off.

Al was waiting for me in the Common room, as he always did in the mornings. When he saw me, he broke out into song.

"It's Monday, Monday, got to get down on Monday; everybody's looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dark Arts!"

I rolled my eyes. Al was such a dork sometimes.

"Learning and learning and hey! Learning and learning and hey! Fun, fun, fun, fun, looking forward to the Da-ark Arts!"

I take that back. Al was such a dork all the time.

"Please stop singing that wretched Becca Brown song," I say, "It's horrid."

Al shakes his head, "You just can't appreciate quality music, Rosie."

Quality, my arse.

"Oh, shut up. It's too early in the morning for me to point out all the things that are wrong with the fact that you put 'quality' and 'Becca Brown' in the same statement," I retort, "Let's just go get some breakfast before I have to see Professor MacQuoid's jubilant face again."

We walked down from the Gryffindor tower and made our way to the Great Hall. When we arrived, I moaned, peeved as I remembered what had happened here just this Friday.

"Well, aren't you a joy to be around today," Albus says jokingly.

I punch him playfully and we go sit down with Lily and Hugo, at the Gryffindor table, who were sitting side by side, whispering together.

"Hey guys!" Albus shouts euphorically.

They look up at us, concerned.

"Why is he so happy today?" Hugo inquires.

I shrug my shoulders.

In response, Al says, "What's there not to be happy about? The flowers are blooming; the birds are chirping and everything's perfect!"

We all stare at him silently before I finally speak.

"Al, you do realize that it's early December, therefore there are no flowers and I don't see any birds other than a couple of mute owls over there…"

"Technicalities," He murmurs.

I choke back a laugh. What was up with him? Sure, Al usually was indeed an upbeat person to be around but never to this extreme.

"He's gone mad," Hugo says, "There's no other explanation."

"Madness is bliss," Al replies.

"That's ignorance," I correct him.

"Technicalities," He repeats.

I don't respond. There's really nothing more I could say. Albus was acting very…odd…today. So, I proceed to heap some food onto my plate and begin to eat. Lily and Hugo go back to their conversation which leaves me sitting quietly beside Happy McHapster over here. I contemplate talking to him again, but it really was too early in the morning for me to deal with such a…situation.

Fifteen minutes later, we're all done with breakfast and Al and I begin strolling leisurely towards our first class, Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was my worst class. Let me define 'worst' for you. I almost got an 'Exceeds Expectations' in it last year, but gladly I managed to pull through and get an 'Outstanding' in it. I don't know what I would have done if I had gotten anything less. Just the thought of getting 'Exceeds Expectations' in anything scared the hell out of me. I was what someone might call a perfectionist, but I took that label as a compliment. Hey, when you're smart, you're smart.

The thing is though, since this wasn't my best class, it meant that it was someone else's. It came as no surprise when I had discovered it was a Slytherin who was triumphing over me. It was even less of a surprise when I found out that the Slytherin was Scorpius Malfoy.

When I had first left for Hogwarts, my very first time, just before leaving, my father had said 'So that's little Scorpius. Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains.'

And I had beaten him in every test…in every subject other than D.A.D.A, which was beyond frustrating.

I had grown up hearing stories about the Malfoy family. Nothing too immoral, but enough to know that my father wasn't about to go play Quidditch with Malfoy's any time soon. Before I came to Hogwarts, I had thought that if I ever was to meet him, Scorpius, he would be cruel and wicked. So, naturally, when I got to Hogwarts and actually saw him for the first time, I was astonished at the revelation that he wasn't some immature bigot who yanked the braids of girls he liked. Instead, he was responsible, dogmatic and serious.

We probably would've ended up being academic rivals, except he didn't care about that. He didn't care about being the best in the class. He didn't care about competing with me for top spot, and even more than that, he didn't care about me. If you put me beside a speck of dust in front of Malfoy, he would be more likely to notice the dust. That was how non-existent I was to him.

It would be a lie if I said that it didn't bother me. I wasn't bothered because I fancied him or anything, that was just not a possibility, it was more like…the need for me to know that he knew who I was. It just didn't seem fair that I had known exactly who he was even before we came to Hogwarts, yet he didn't have the decency to let me know that, yeah, his father talked about my family as much as mine did about his. If that makes any sense…

Al and I were now sitting at our pair's desk, waiting for the Professor to arrive. Professor MacQuoid was a short man, bald, and small in stature. Yet he was the most intimidating Professor Hogwarts had ever seen, in my opinion. I'd seen Dementors friendlier than him. The only way to stay on his good side was to excel in D.A.D.A and to look interested in everything he said, even if he was talking about his toad's sinus complications (which he did regularly, mind you). If you got on his bad side, well, let's just say your Hogwarts days wouldn't be quite as pleasant as you'd wish them to be. And if you didn't stay on his good side because you didn't want to get in trouble, you stayed on his good side because you were scared.

He strode in vociferously, his cloak dragging behind him as passed through the door frame. Professor MacQuoid stood behind the Professors desk and swiftly scanned the room with his stone-like eyes. He nodded, to himself I presumed, before he spoke.

"This week we will focus on conjuring the Patronus charm," Professor MacQuoid says sharply. "Can anyone tell me what a Patronus charm is?"

My hand shoots up.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" The Professor says.

Right as I opened my mouth to answer, a figure entered the room.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy!" Professor MacQuoid says sternly with a hint of affection powdering his tone, "How nice of you to join us."

"I apologize for disrupting your class, Professor," Malfoy begins astutely, "It's just that I slept in today as I stayed up late last night looking over the notes I had taken in your class. They were remarkably insightful, Sir."

Kiss-ass.

The Professors expression changed 'remarkably' fast from strict to cordial.

"Ah, my boy, not at all, not at all! Come on in then, hurry up," The Professor says.

I always knew that Professor MacQuoid had taken a liking to Malfoy. Had it been me or anyone else standing in that doorway, not only would we have gotten chewed out for disrupting the Professors lesson, but he'd glare at us for the rest of class as well.

Malfoy walked in, an almost undetectable smile shadowing his lips. He proceeded to take a seat beside his closest friend, Sefton, or I assumed him to be the closest as he seemed to be the only one Malfoy tolerated, and set his ardent gaze on the Professor.

I sighed.

"Oh, that's right!" Professor MacQuoid suddenly said, "Miss Weasley, please continue."

Great to know that my existence had also slipped the Professors mind.

"Right," I start, "A Patronus is a defensive charm that can only be conjured when a caster focuses their most intimate positive feelings in order to repel a predator of the soul. Such creatures include Dementors and Lethifolds. A Patronus may also be used to transmit messages between two individuals. Patronus's typically take the form of an animal; however the form differs from wizard to wizard."

"Very good!" The Professor affirms approvingly.

What, no 'ten points for Gryffindor'? What a bloody cheapskate.

"Now, I want you and your partner to take out your textbooks, page 234, if you will, and begin reading about the Patronus. I will expect a one page essay on it handed in to me by tomorrow morning," He looked over at poor Marvin Mallrick, "No excuses."

I feel my heart lighten. I loved writing essays.

"Tomorrow we will begin learning the incantation for the charm, so I would suggest you be present. I also suggest you use this time wisely if you do not wish to be finishing this essay during your free time this evening."

"Merlin, it's only Monday first period and already we have homework," Al shakes his head in disappointment, "And today was going so well, too."

I take my chance to ask him about what happened this morning.

"So, what exactly was with you today? All that pep and cheer about butterflies, flowers and birds?"

He looks over at me and smiles, "I don't know. I was just…happy."

"We could tell."

He snickers, "Was it really that bizarre?"

"Quite so," I reply.

"Well, I'll try not to scare you like that again, Rosie," He says.

"Please do."

I flipped to the page in the textbook and Albus and I began skimming through the endless paragraphs on the history of the Patronus, the use of the Patronus, the discovery of the Patronus, etc… Class was, as you'd expect, less than stimulating. The only good part about this assignment at all, really, was the essay anyways.

After what seemed like hours, though I knew in reality it hadn't been, the Professor got up and spoke again.

"Please gather your things. The transition bell will ring any minute now," He told us.

I began to pack up my things, stuffing all of my papers into my book bag.

"Wasn't that just most…illuminating," Al says.

"Illuminating? What a load of—"

I had been getting up and therefore hadn't seen anyone behind me. Instantly, I was chanting 'I'm sorry' as I turned to see whom I had bumped into. Once I steadied myself and focused my vision, I found clear, blue eyes staring back at me, livid. His books were scattered on the floor and I tried to hold back a laugh, I really did, but it was just too comical.

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><p><strong>AN ~ Ba dum dum! Okay, I'll admit, that really wasn't the best cliff-hanger I've ever written but I really didn't know how to end this chapter so... Anyways, I hope you liked it. Thank you to the people who reviewed my story earlier, you guys really made my day! If anyone wants to make my day again (of course you do!), you're totally welcome to review. Please. Pretty please. Pretty, pretty please. ...But don't review if you hated it, or I'll send my Dementor army after you. No, I'm dead serious. Don't believe me? Just you try! **

**But really, I'm sorry if it wasn't good enough. I just wanted to get another chapter out today, so... If you guys say it sucks, I'll definitely work harder so please don't drop my story yet. **

**- ****Anna B.**


	3. Bullies

**DISCLAIMER: So... JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. But I bet you knew that. If you didn't, well, I can only pity you. **

**So, here's Chapter Three! I've been working on it all day, so I really hope you like it. And if you do like it, you see that pretty little review button at the very end of the page there? Well, do you? Click on it and magical things will happen.**

**CHAPTER #3 - Bullies**

Daelan Sefton now stood in front of me, glaring down. He had a wicked glint in his eye that immediately told me that he wasn't quite as amused by this situation as I was. With some hard work, I managed to disguise my sporadic giggles as nothing more than rather odd-sounding coughs.

"I'm really sorry," I say again.

I'm not genuinely sorry, not at all, but I'm not looking for a dual at this very moment so I put on my most repentant face and apologize once more.

"Weasley," Sefton says my name as if it's the vilest thing to ever leave his mouth.

I resist the urge to mockingly say 'Sefton' right back, and I guess I could say that I'm proud of that.

Before our little war of words can continue, the books that lay on the floor neatly stacked themselves on top of each other and levitated into Sefton's hands. I look beyond Sefton to find Malfoy standing there, no expression on his face whatsoever, just a cold gaze that wasn't particularly focused on anything.

"Move," Malfoy says.

I'm confused for a moment but quickly realize that I'm blocking their passage to the door. I feel my face heat up just barely, and angrily jerk myself to the side, just to dramatize the situation. They step past me, and neither Sefton nor Malfoy look back.

"Arseholes," Al says, standing up behind me.

I look at Al and give him a soft smile.

"Self-righteous pure-bloods, they are," I say.

"My sentiments exactly."

I go through the rest of my classes with much less conflict. Albus was in all of my classes, all but Herbology, that is. But I didn't mind that because rarely did we have to work in partnerships in Herbology and, truth be told, I worked much better alone anyways.

Lunch was peaceful, I spent it with James though, as Albus was, surprisingly, absent from the table. The rest of my classes droned on, and I found myself almost ready to break into applause when the final bell rang. Albus and I walked out of Charms, happily, one might say, and headed for the Great Hall so that we could enjoy a quick meal before we set out to complete our various assignments from today.

"You'd think the Professors would go easy on us. It's Monday, after all. Don't they remember what it's like to be young?" Al complains as we walk, "I mean, really, is it too hard to maybe co-ordinate their homework loads with each other just to see if maybe, just maybe, giving us like fifteen essays to write and five hundred pages to read would be slightly inconvenient?"

"Actually, it's two essays and ten pages…"

"Precisely!"

I snicker. Al was being very theatrical.

"Let it go, drama queen," I say affectionately.

We arrive at the Great Hall where I instantaneously spot Lily eating her food gloomily at the end of the Gryffindor table. I smack my hand against Albus's arm to end his rant on the atrociousness of homework and inconsiderate Professors, and proceed to nod my head in Lily's direction. It takes him a minute to find whom I'm nodding at, but he does, and we walk towards her in silent agreement.

"Hey, Lily-pad," Al says, using a nickname Lily absolutely adored, "What's up?"

She jumps, clearly having not been aware of our presence here prior to our speaking. Once the initial surprise fades, Lily's face reflects sulkiness once more.

"Nothing…" She whispers.

Al and I exchange looks.

"Lily…" I say, "What's the matter?"

She looks up at me and her big, brown eyes begin tearing up.

"Lily?" I say, anxious.

"A bunch of Slytherins were teasing this first year 'bout being a muggle-born," She sobs, "so I walked over there and told them to stop. The little boy was crying and he was really upset, so I told him to go. When he ran off, I tried to leave but the Slytherins gathered around me and called me," Pause. "a Mudblood lover. We were on the second floor beside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and they pushed me in there and destroyed my Potions book. And then they said that if they ever saw me again, they'd hex me."

I gaped at her in disbelief. Lily was the sweetest girl alive; she was kind, compassionate, empathetic and more. Of course she wouldn't have taken out her wand to inflict pain on those bullies, much less defend herself, for it wasn't in her philosophy. She believed that magic should only be used to help and heal, nothing more.

Fury burned within me. How dare someone do that to Lily? How bloody dare they?

"Who was it?" My voice stayed unnaturally calm.

Her eyes widened, "No. I don't want to do anything about it, Rosie. I guess I just… needed to tell someone."

I shake my head, "Like hell am I letting anyone get away with that. Who was it?"

She stays silent.

"Lil's, you're going to have to tell us," Al intercepts evenly, "We won't do anything rash. Rosie's right though, no one should be able to do that to you, or anyone else, for that matter. So, who was it?"

Lily waits a moment before her mouth moves barely discernibly to say, "Drayce Sefton."

"Sefton? You mean that bloody bigots little brother is responsible for this?" To say I'm enraged would be somewhat of an understatement, "Well, I guess being an ignorant moron runs in the family!"

"Rosie…" Al says, "Calm down, people are staring."

I look around. Al hadn't been exaggerating, people were staring.

To Lily, he says, "It's okay. We'll take care of it, alright Lil's?"

She nods, although I don't think she believes us. It seems that Lily is in a hurry to leave, so she drains the last of her Pumpkin juice down her throat, and says a quick goodbye to us before she rushes off.

"Al, what're we going to do?" I ask once she's gone.

He looks at me, "Well, first we're going to eat. Then, we will finish our homework and then later tonight we will confer with James. It's the most rational thing to do right now, and we told Lily we'd be rational."

"No, _you_ told Lily we'd be rational," I correct him, "_I_, on the other hand, said no such thing."

He chuckles and gives me a light smile.

Albus and I finish dinner quickly; after all, we did have homework to do. So, when we're all done, we begin exiting the Great Hall.

"You think all Slytherins are such callous brutes?" I ask Al as we stroll towards the first steps of the Grand Staircase.

"It's a possibility."

"I swear, not one of them is anything but mean and spiteful," I say, "None of them have a single redeeming quality."

"Now that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Al says jokingly.

I laugh along with him, and we're now within mere steps of the Grand Staircase. Just as I'm about to climb the first step of it, though, I freeze.

Out of the corner of my eye I'd seen him, hooting and chortling there with his idiot friends.

"Rosie…?" Al says questioningly.

I'm staring at the group, and Al follows my line of vision. He, too, stops and looks at them intently. I, however, by now have turned around and am stalking towards the group. I think I hear Al calling after me, but I can't be sure.

"Think you're so tough?" I say, interrupting their painfully unintelligent means of recreation which involved tons of immaturity and detestable jokes.

"And you are…?" The leader, I assume, inquires, slightly surprised by my disruption but nothing more.

"Huh, five of you, what, fourth years? Against one poor first year bloke?" I say, disdain oozing from my voice, "Yeah, you guys _are_ tough."

"What's she on about?" One of the boys in the background asks no one in particular.

"No idea," Drayce Sefton mutters, "Bloody Gryffindor thinks she's on to something."

"Oh, and even better, you lot ganged up on one girl 'cause you're _so bloody tough_," I spit.

They all exchange glances, and Sefton, who'd had his arms folded and had been leaning against the wall, straightened up and walked towards me.

"That little girl went tattling, did she?" He says.

"Tattling!" I exclaim, disgusted and in utter incredulity.

Sefton grabbed inside his cloak and swiftly produced his wand. He was angry and he wasn't about to suggest we go solve our issues over a cup of tea and a nice, long game of wizards chess.

"_Levicorpus!_" I hear my cousin yell from behind me.

Before Sefton could throw a counter-curse at Albus, he's dangling by his ankles two meters off the ground. I stifle a laugh but quickly realize that Seftons friends, too, had their wands out.

"_Impedimenta!_" One of them roars, pointing their wand at Al.

I react promptly and find myself screaming a shield-charm before the jinx leaves the casters wand.

"_Protego!_"

The shield works, and the effects of the would-be jinx do not reach us. Seftons on the ground already and he, along with his friends, were all conjuring up hexes, jinxes and curses all directed at us. In the moment, I couldn't think of a charm that would repel all of their spells, and panic was steadily increasing within me.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Someone shouts from behind me.

It's not Al, I can tell by the voice, but the spell disarms Sefton and not us.

I twirl around, expecting to find James behind us, or even Hugo, but am in sheer disbelief when I see exactly who it is.

**So... Yeah... Haha, did you guys think she'd bumped into Malfoy at the very beginning? Come on, I know my cliff-hangers aren't the best, but even they aren't that lame! And anyways... I'm pretty sure Scorpius has grey-ish blue eyes, not clear blue. **

**Oh, did you guys hear? The last Harry Potter movie came out like two days ago! I must've been living in a cave, 'cause I didn't know that or I would've had the DVD like two days ago. But all is well in the world because I did end up getting the movie today. **

**So, anyways, like I said, I _really_ hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though the story's not too complex yet. If you kind-of liked it then maybe, just maybe, you'll review? Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, it really helps to know that my writing isn't positively ghastly (is that a British phrase?). Oh, and please don't review if you hated it...or I'll send my house elves to break your precious copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. Haha, so yeah... That's about it. Thanks for taking the time to read this!**

**-Anna B. **

**(**See? I didn't do the XOXO thing this time. I now realize just how lame that is.**)**


	4. Set Up

**DISCLAIMER: ...I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be JK Rowling. Which I'm not. So, basically, the point of this was that I do not own Harry Potter. **

**So... Here's Chapter Four! Yeah! Umm... Please read and enjoy. When you have finished your magical journey, please click on the enchanted button at the very end there. Thank you. **

_**CHAPTER #4 - Set Up**_

"Why'd you _bloody_ do that?" Sefton snarls.

Malfoy's calm, as he always is. There's no hint of, well, anything on his face. He's standing there serenely, as if an intense battle hadn't been happening here just moments ago.

"Malfoy?" Al's not only surprised, he's worried.

"_What is going on here?_"

My head snaps to the side and dread pervades through my entire being when I see who it is that's approaching us.

"Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter!" Professor MacQuoid bellows at us.

I look at Malfoy's smug face and instantly realize what's happening, what this situation must look like.

"Professor, I—" I begin.

He's fuming, and he's not letting me speak.

"What is this? I expected more from you two!" He growls.

"Professor—" Al tries.

"This is absolutely unacceptable behavior! Have you been taught nothing by your parents?"

He thinks Al and I were attacking Sefton. Bullying him. We had wands, Sefton didn't. He was disarmed. And even though Sefton's friends had their wands out, the way this was going, Professor MacQuoid must've thought that they were only protecting poor, defenseless Drayce Sefton. This was laughable, it really was.

"This seem funny to you, Miss Weasley?" He barks.

I ponder on whether I should tell the truth or lie. The truth would go something like, 'Yes, I do indeed find this marvelously amusing and you, Sir, are an inexcusable, pompous arse'. I go with the lie.

"No, Sir, but if you would simply listen—"

He just won't let me finish! Al is standing beside me and I could almost sense the waves of revulsion rolling off of him. He thought this guy was just as much of an imbecile as I did. Sure, I'd never been fond of Professor MacQuoid anyway, but this was truly a new level of low he was reaching. Figures he'd defend the self-important Slytherins, though. After all, he was the Head of Slytherin House.

"…and if you think for one second I'm letting this go, you're gravely mistaken!" He finishes, huffing.

That must've been some speech I'd tuned out.

I look over at Sefton's radiant face. I knew the moment we left, or Professor MacQuoid did, he and his crew would be congratulating each other on how they out-maneuvered the dim-witted Gryffindors. Except they weren't the ones responsible for this, Malfoy was. Scorpius Malfoy. He stood a little way behind the scene, not uttering a single word, just standing there, watching. But I could tell he was glowing.

I'd never had much of a reason to hate Malfoy, other than the fact that he was a Slytherin. The fact that he'd been the only one to beat me in any class, of course, hadn't earned him brownie points, but still… I hadn't hated him for it. Since first year, we'd had minimal contact with each other. A snide remark here, and insult over there, but that was all. And now…his very existence was downright detestable to me. He'd set me up. He'd set Al up. And I would never forgive him for it.

"Fifty points will be deducted from Gryffindor! From the both of you!" Professor MacQuoid declares.

I hear Al gasp beside me, and he opens his mouth to protest. I lay my hand gently on his arm. _It's not worth it, the bloody idiot's hopeless._

Professor MacQuoid wasn't going to listen to us, he just wasn't.

"You better pray to Merlin that I don't catch you doing this again!" Professor MacQuoid proclaims, his face having reached an unnatural shade of purple and red by now.

With one last deadly glare at Al and me, he pirouettes towards the Great Hall and stomps off. Blithering idiot, he is.

"Hear that, you lot?" Sefton sneers once Professor MacQuoid is out of hearing range, "You better not get caught doing it again!"

His group erupts with laughter. My fingers tighten around my wand. To hurl just one hex at them, that's all I wanted. Or jinx. Or killing curse.

Malfoy's still standing there. _Bloody moron._ How _bloody_ dare he?

I spin around, away from the immature fools that stood behind me now and towards the oh so _bloody_ brilliant Scorpius Malfoy.

"You!" I growl.

I know I should stop, just walk away, for the sake of Al and me, but I can't. I just can't.

Malfoy's eyes widen in mock innocence.

"Yes?" He replies.

"You did that on purpose!" I scream accusingly, "I know you did!"

"I don't know what you're referring to."

"Mark my words, Malfoy," I snarl, "One day, and one day soon, I'll get you back for this. I swear I will."

Okay, to be honest, I knew I sounded dreadfully unintelligent. I mean, 'I'll get you back for this!'? I wasn't in the second grade. That line was just up there with 'I'll tell my mom on you!' and bloody 'Revenge is a dish best served cold' on the list of over-used threats/sayings that will make you look like a dim-wit when used in a serious conversation. But I'd said it, and I couldn't exactly take it back now.

The corners of his lips turned up, "You do that, Weasley."

"Let's just go," Albus mutters quietly beside me.

He looked unreservedly dejected. He was upset by this entire situation, and I couldn't blame him for it.

I glower palpably at Malfoy one last time before Al and I walk off. As we made our way up the damn Grand Staircase, I could hear whoops and cries of laughter coming from Sefton and his group. Yeah, this hadn't gone the way I planned. Not at all.

Al and I amble into the Gryffindor common room. We hadn't spoken a single word the entire way up. I knew it wasn't so much the getting in trouble part that was hassling Albus. It was more of the fact that the Slytherins were the ones who got us into trouble. Had it been anything else, Al would've laughed it off and bounced back with his jolly mood in mere seconds. But he hated the Slytherins with a passion. Now I could say the same for me as well.

"Oi!" Someone says behind us.

I jump, startled, but then almost giggle as I see James standing there.

"No time for day-dreaming, boys and girls! We've got a lot of work ahead of us," James informs me and Al.

I look at James, baffled.

"Christmas's coming up soon," James shrugs in explanation, "I figured this year I'd get mum an' dad an actual gift an' not just another pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans that I bought on the Hogwarts Express with your money, Albus Severus Potter."

…You have got to be kidding me. Leave it to James to find something so…unexpected, one might say; to do that the entire idea became just unbelievably comical. Even Al cracked a smile.

"You're going to have to work a lot harder than that, James Sirius Potter, if you want to become the Potter family's favorite child," Al teases.

"I think I've got Lily almost beat," James says seriously.

Al blinks, and then bursts out laughing. He hadn't been speaking of Lily.

James is puzzled for a moment, not understanding why Al was expressing his amusement so animatedly, but then simply continues on to ask, "So, you in or out?"

"Out," Al says, shaking his head, still chuckling, "Homework, you see."

James then turns to me, hopeful.

"Surely you wouldn't abandon me in my time of need, Rosie," James says dynamically.

"Uh…" I begin, "About that… I sort-of would. Looks like you're on your own, genius."

I thought it'd upset him, but he merely gestured nonchalantly and strolled off, saying, "Don't come crawling back to me when you two don't have awesome gifts for Christmas like I do.", as he did so.

When James had gone off to work on the mind-boggling gift of his, Al and I found a corner in the common room to do our homework at. Before we started though, I had to ask.

"We're not really just going to let Malfoy get away with what he did, are we?" I say.

Al looks up at me and smiles wickedly, "Of course not."

**Umm, I actually sort-of liked this Chapter so I really hope you did too. Please tell me if you're finding any faults with this story, because I want to make it as good as I can. But please don't review if you think this story is a disgrace to literature and shouldn't be allowed to exist... or I'll steal your Nimbus 2000 when you're asleep. Haha, that's about it. Thanks for reading! Oh, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you guys have really helped me so...thanks! **

**-Anna B.**


	5. Noises in the Night

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter series. Although, I wish I did. But I don't. JK Rowling does. **

**CHAPTER #5 - Noises in the Night**

I'd never stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas. Every year I went back to the Weasley residence where my mother would prepare several rather inedible muggle dishes which my father balanced off with completely unhealthy wizards' desserts in large quantities. We'd always invite Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny along with our cousins over on Christmas Eve. It was tradition. Sometimes, Uncle George would show up with Aunt Angelina and their son Freddy, and Uncle George would bring with him some of his latest creations made for the purpose of mischief and secretly smuggle them into our hands when our parents weren't looking. Our grandparents, well, grandmother, was notorious for sending us hideous outerwear each year. Last year, I'd received an appalling pink sweater with my initials sown in boldly with thread of a sickly green color. To this day it sits in the back of my closet, never to be shown to humanity. Yeah, Christmas was the best time of the year.

Today was the last full school day before break began. Tomorrow, most of the students would leave on the Hogwarts Express to return back home for a two week holiday. To tell the truth, as much as I loved Hogwarts and all, I couldn't wait to get out of here. I needed the break. I deserved it.

"And that's it for our last Charms lesson until after Christmas break!" Professor Pennington exclaimed as the bell rang.

Students beamed as they gathered up their paraphernalia and bolted for the door.

"Don't forget to study your incantations!" Pennington called after them, "Read over your material and make sure you have it memorized!"

He had to know that no one was listening to him, right? Al and I included.

We walked out of the classroom, and into the flooded hallways of the school. First and second year students were chatting away excitedly about how they couldn't wait to see their parents. We older students were too cool for that, but we all, silently, also couldn't wait to see them either.

"You think James actually got mum and dad a great gift?" Al said worriedly as we walked towards the Great Hall, like we always did after classes.

I looked up at him and stifled a laugh. He was sincerely concerned about James having the better gift this year. Yesterday, James had come up to us and bragged about how amazing his present was and how we'd surely missed out when we'd blown him off. I was sure he was bluffing, yet, apparently, Al had taken him seriously.

"I mean, I got 'em a gift already, too, but what if James' is better?" He continued.

"I'm sure Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny will love both your guys' gifts equally…" I offered up lamely.

He rolled his eyes, "You're no help, Rosie."

I laughed again. Al honestly thought that his parents were going to like James more if he got them a better gift than Al did. I found it rather amusing. But, then again, I'd never had to worry about stuff like that because Hugo was about as much competition for me as a golf ball. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

We arrived at the Great Hall, where the ghosts were floating around singing Christmas carols. I loved Christmas, I really did, but Christmas carols? I didn't love Christmas _that_ much.

"Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Merlin came to say!" A ghost sang vociferously as Al and I marched towards the Gryffindor table, "Rudolf with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight? Then all the thestrals loved him, loved him…!"

As soon as we reached the table, I slammed my head on it.

"Make them stop…" I whined to Al.

"It's all good fun," He replied nonchalantly.

And he said I was no help…

"Anyways, what time are we getting up tomorrow?" He asked, "The train leaves at noon, so…"

"Around nine-ish?" I finish, "Give us a lot of time for breakfast and what not."

Al nodded, "Nine."

We ate our dinner, and set on our way to the Gryffindor tower. Our professors had taken pity on us poor, unsuspecting students and decided to not give us homework over the holidays. That must've been a first.

Therefore, tonight's itinerary would be filled with nothing more than unproductive entertainment, probably in the form of various competitive games of Gobstones and such.

I was quite alright with that, though. I'd worked so hard this entire term. I'd graciously tolerated Professor MacQuoid and all those pesky Slytherins; I'd helped the extensive number of Weasley children keep out of trouble, and all the while kept my grades up. Forgive me if I thought I deserved a medal for my efforts.

As I had predicted, the Common Room was already filled with a bunch of overjoyed Gryffindors who'd already begun blasting music and cheering wildly as they came to the realization that all of our classes were done. For this year, at least.

I made my way into the girl's dormitory, figuring that it would be wise to get all my belongings packed before I did anything else. So, Al and I parted, agreeing that we would meet in the Common Room in about an hour.

I didn't have a lot of packing do, though. With a few flicks of my wand, I found that I finished rather swiftly. Al was probably having a monstrous time attempting to gather all his items and belongings in that garbage dump he called his living area. None of the Potter boys were too keen on being tidy.

I proceeded to go back down into the Common Room, where all the cheering and music had consequently turned into a full blown party, complete with wizard sweets and butterbeer which came from Merlin knows where. As expected, Gobstones had become the biggest attraction there.

Seeing as how my Gobstone skills, however, were only barely just above basic competence, I found that my time was more prudently spent sitting aimlessly on a sofa, doing absolutely nothing of importance. I didn't have to wait too long, though, because an hour passed by all too soon and Al came down just as promised. He joined me on the sofa, and handed me a glass of butterbeer, whose place of origin was still a mystery to me.

"I honestly can't wait to get home," Al told me as he sat down.

Taking a sip of my drink, I said, "I hear you."

"How strange would it be if I said that I'm even looking forward to wearing Grandma Molly's ugly sweater which she is sure to knit for us again on Christmas, and pretending as if it's exactly what I'd needed for my life to be complete?" He asked, laughing.

"Very strange," I chuckled back, "But I think this year we might be old enough for us to be graced with the scarves. There's a pattern, you see. Each year until we reach year five, we get sweaters. Then, after that, it's the scarves."

"You think?" He asked, "That's an atrocity! I want the sweater!"

I blinked, startled by Albus's passion for Grandma Molly's sweaters, and then said, "I'm sure Hugo will trade with you."

Slightly reassured, Al's anxiety faded.

After that episode, Al and I went on to join the other Gryffindors in the celebration of our last day here before break. Oh, it was exciting. Very exciting.

By the time the festivities ended it was late, probably past midnight or something. I reminded Al one last time of when he should meet me in the Common Room before I left for the girl's dormitory.

I was rather tired, and so I happily snuggled into my bed and smiled as I thought of seeing my parents tomorrow.

It was inexplicably quiet in our dorm, and so I had no trouble slowly drifting into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>My eyes burst open.<p>

A piercing scream had woken me. My head snapped to the side as I tried to see who had cried out like that. Everyone was still asleep, though. None of the girls around me had been woken by the screaming, which had ceased as quickly as it must've started. Had I had a nightmare? No, that couldn't be. I knew I'd heard something. The voice had rung in my head. It was desperate, it was tortured.

I rolled off my bed, and grabbed my wand from the bedside table. This was utterly foolish. I should've just gone back to sleep, but I couldn't. The scream…

I walked towards the entrance of the dormitory, as I thought the scream had come from that area. Still, it was eerie that all the girls there were still asleep. Surely, it must've been my imagination. And yet…

I couldn't see well. It was too dark, and so I lit my wand.

"_Lumos_."

A narrow light played off the tip of my wand. I pointed it around me, but everything was… normal. No screaming girl, no attacker, nothing. Maybe it had come from the Common Room? I knew my entire expedition here was hopelessly ridiculous, but something felt…off.

I walked out of the dormitory and down to the Common Room. There I stood, alone, pointing my wand around. I didn't need my light anymore, as the Common Room was always dimly lit.

"_Nox_."

My wand light went out, and now I just looked around. The fireplace was burning, the flames dancing. The couches were empty, and the silence was inescapable.

Finally, I had to admit, it probably was my imagination. There was nothing here that was not supposed to be here. I shook my head, and snickered. I really needed this winter break, or else I would go insane.

I turned to go back up to my dorm. Clearly, I needed the sleep. I ran up, and entered the dark dormitory once more. I contemplated conjuring up light again, but decided against it. I could stumble to my bed without it.

I took the first step. As soon as my foot hit the floor, pandemonium broke out.

I didn't know what was happening. One second it was dark and quiet, and I was the only one awake. The next, the lights flickered on, screams of terror covered the room and everyone was awake. At first, I didn't know how to respond. I was frozen in place as everyone moved around me. I gripped my wand tightly, not sure what to do. _What was happening?_ Everyone in the dorm, all the girls, they had grabbed for their wands, and had stood. And slowly, it dawned upon me that those wands were being pointed at me as someone screamed in the background, "It was her! It was her!"

**Umm... Hey guys. I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a...really long time. If you're still reading my story, then thank you very much. Haha, uhh... please review, I guess? Thanks. **

**-Anna B. **


	6. Accusations

**DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter is in no way, and will never be in any way, mine. Which makes me want to cry. All credit goes to JK Rowling. **

**Here's Chapter Six! I'm amazed that I'm uploading two Chapter's in one week. This makes me feel very proud of myself. If you're proud of me too, which you probably aren't (but you should still say you are), then please proceed to click on that mystifying review button at the bottom. Thank you. :D**

**CHAPTER #6 - Accusations**

* * *

><p>I admit, I wasn't in the best of situations. Having the wands of several, currently less than reasonable, witches pointing at me, well, that was a bit unsettling. The fact that I'd been disarmed and paralyzed by spells before my coherence had kicked in wasn't much of comforting fact. In truth, it wasn't comforting at all, just a fact.<p>

But of course, being the brilliant witch I am, I had already put a plan in action. I was going to do whatever they said and pray that whatever curse had been placed upon this mass group of hormonal witches was temporary and would wear off before they decided to draw name's out of the Sorting Hat for who would get to practice the _Cruciatus Curse_ on me first.

I didn't even know what I'd done! Merlin, I'd only heard a scream and went to investigate, which I thought was perfectly within regulations, although plausibly not the brightest thing to do alone…at night. Forgive me if I didn't quite think that I deserved to be treated as if I'd admitted to being in league with the Dark Lord.

Abruptly, I felt feeling return to my fingertips, excruciatingly slowly consuming my entire fingers. I twitched my fingers to check if it was true, which clearly was a mistake.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_

What little feeling had returned to my body instantly vanished and I was frozen once more. I didn't even get to see the face of the bloody little girl that cursed me.

"Someone restrain her!" A girl called from somewhere.

Ropes appeared from seemingly nowhere, and bound my wrists and ankles together. Merlin forbid I twitched my fingers again.

If I could've moved, I swear to Dumbledore I'd have said some not so nice things to all these lovely young ladies who now surrounded me. Most of it would probably consist of words I'd never much used, especially in the presence of an adult, and even then I'd go the extra mile to mush some nouns and verbs together to reach a new level of expressing your… dissatisfaction with something.

They were treating me as if I were some beast, as if I'd committed an unspeakable horror. Everyone stood around me, eyes wide, wands pointed, terrified. What were they scared of? _I _was the one who was about to be crucified on a cross for reasons I could not even begin to guess at.

"Oh, when's Lucy going to get McGonagall here?" A high voice squeaked anxiously.

I wasn't quite sure whether I should've felt relieved or further worried about the Headmistress having been summoned. For all I knew, everyone in the bloody school could've gone mad overnight.

"Forget McGonagall, we need Madam Pomfrey here now!" Another voice wailed somewhere behind me.

Madam Pomfrey? Was someone hurt? An odd sensation swept over me. Had the scream I heard been…real? But still, even then, everything that was happening right now just didn't make sense! I hadn't done anything.

I heard a bustling noise behind me as someone entered, and I didn't have to wait long before I knew who it was.

"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagall gasped, and even her gasp had a harsh tone to it.

"Professor… it's Astra… look," A soft voice, belonging to a girl who sounded as if she were nearly in tears, spoke.

I assumed that what McGonagall saw must've been…something, for I heard her sharply inhale, and I felt no loosening of the ropes that bound me.

More footsteps sounded, and soon I heard Madam Pomfrey's fretting voice, and the troubled comments that came along when she declared that Astra had to be moved immediately. She asked a couple girls to help get Astra down the stairs as boys could not enter the Girls' Dormitory. Once Madam Pomfrey, Astra and a couple other girls made a noisy exit, an inexcusable silence fell over the room.

After a few moments, McGonagall muttered a few syllables, and the ropes ceased to confine and limit my movement. However, the spell did not. She came around until she stood in front of me, her eyes demanding, and her lips tight. The grey hair that was usually pulled back in a tight bun was now slumping in a lazy fashion around her face, and somehow, that made her even more intimidating.

"Miss Weasley," She enunciated my name with no traceable emotion.

With two flicks of her wand, the spell that had paralyzed me was rescinded. When I shifted my head slightly, the cries of horror around the room weren't too encouraging.

"Professor—"

"Miss Weasley, I will escort you to my office at once."

"But Professor—" I tried again.

"Now."

I decided to raise no argument this time. Really, the faster I got out of here, the better. McGonagall briskly walked past me without another word, and I was compelled to walk right behind her. When we descended the stairs from the Dormitory, there was a collective group of boys gathered to watch the proceedings. Among them were Al and James.

I wasn't sure whether I should've looked at them, threw a convincing I'm-alright-and-this-is-all-just-one-hugely-blown-out-of-proportion-misunderstanding look and kept going, I wasn't sure if I dared, so in the end I did nothing at all, and just walked past without sparing them a glance.

The walk to McGonagall's office was a long one, a shameful one. I knew I'd done absolutely nothing wrong, or at least I thought I hadn't, but still… the feeling of shame was there. I cursed myself for ever having gotten out of that wretched bed, and I was exhausted to no end with the bizarreness of this entire predicament.

We reached the Gargoyles which protected the Headmistresses office. McGonagall made a point to say her password so quietly that I ended up with an ambiguous word that could have been almost anything that rhymed with 'snitch'. We stepped onto the stone, spiral staircase and it twirled, transporting us up to the actual office. Once we entered, I just stood there as McGonagall strode over to her desk and took a seat, her head in her hands. She waited a few moments, and when she realized I wasn't across from her, she lifted her head.

"Come sit, Miss Weasley."

It wasn't really an invitation, more of a command.

I cautiously stepped forward and took the only seat opposite of McGonagall.

"Miss Weasley, I- well, I'm not sure what to make of this."

Neither am I, I thought.

But instead, I said, "Professor, I didn't do it… whatever _it_ is."

"Listen to me, Miss Weasley," McGonagall spoke solemnly. "In a few minutes, some very important witches and wizards will enter this office and believe me, what happened tonight will not be ignored. I must know, right now, exactly what happened because when they come in, I'm afraid I may be the only one on your side."

"Professor, I don't even know what happened!" I yelled.

I hadn't intended to, but this was all too over-whelming. I'd done nothing! They couldn't prosecute someone who'd done nothing.

A look that I couldn't quite decipher passed over McGonagall's face, but it was gone as easily as it had appeared.

"Miss Weasley, please. We don't have a lot of time. If I was following protocol right now, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all."

I sighed. Maybe this was all ridiculous, but if McGonagall was nervous, then something bad was without a doubt about to happen.

"Professor… I don't know. I heard a scream, and I woke up. I looked around, and no one else was awake, but I swore I'd heard something. So, I got out of bed and looked around the dormitory, went down to the Common Room, and decided that I'd probably lost my sanity. Then, I come back up and… One second everything's fine, the next I have clusters of wands being pointed at me, and I'm being accused of Merlin knows what!"

McGonagall didn't interrupt, not even once; she listened to me with great intent and only spoke when I was finished.

"Is that all, Miss Weasley?"

I nodded my head and said, "Professor, what happened? I didn't see anything; I was paralyzed, facing away from where everyone had gathered around Astra."

McGonagall waited a moment, looking at me as she contemplated something. Finally, she exhaled and said, "There's been an attack."

I resisted the temptation to snap at her. I mean, I could've figured that one out on my own.

"I'm afraid it's very serious. Miss Caverly, while the details are still unclear, is surely in critical condition. I'm not sure how…stable she is right now. I'm afraid that's all I can disclose to you, Miss Weasley, at the moment."

I opened my mouth to prompt her to say more, but my words were cut short when the door swung open behind me without warning. I jumped, and quickly calmed myself, turning my body to face the newcomers. In strode two men and two women, a few years older than me but far younger than McGonagall, all dressed in black robes, expressions grim.

"Minerva," One of the men, the one with the sleek black hair, acknowledged McGonagall.

"Verne," McGonagall countered.

I felt remarkably out of place here. Not only was I still in my pajamas, which was embarrassing in itself, but one of the women, the tiny blonde in the glasses, was already eyeing me accusingly. No, this wasn't going to go over half as well as I'd dared hope.

"Is she the one we were sent an urgent owl about?" Verne continued.

To me, that seemed like a rather redundant question, but McGonagall answered politely just as well.

"Yes."

And then, he spoke two words which sent my mind into a panic.

"Take her."

_Take me?_ Take me where?

The woman in the glasses lunged forward, but before she could reach out towards me, a shield pushed her back. Her eyes widened in rage, and I felt like maybe, just maybe, McGonagall hadn't chosen the best course of action.

"Now Evane, let's not do anything prematurely," McGonagall said coolly, yet in a strong, peremptory voice.

I pushed my body back into the chair I was sitting in as much as I could, nonsensically thinking that somehow that would help.

"Minerva, I'm sure you heard the order just the same as I did. This girl is a danger," Evane said through gritted teeth.

She was angry; anyone with eyes could see it.

"I did. And I repeat, let's not do anything prematurely. We have no evidence; this is all based on the words of a few teenage girls."

"Then why were we called here if this matter is so trivial, Minerva?" Verne spoke, irritated.

"You know just as well as I do that this is a very grave matter. A student at my school is severely hurt, and there is nothing more I would like to do now than to find the culprit. However, I believe that you were beckoned to _consult_ on our further actions, not to arrest a child."

"A child who is accused of attacking a student, Minerva, by, as stated in _your_ owl, all the girls in her dormitory!" Evane piped up.

"I will not allow you to take a student of mine without solid evidence!" McGonagall bellowed.

It was Verne who spoke next, "Perhaps, Minerva, do you think the girl's famous parents are playing a part in what nonsense you're spouting now? Not only that, but they were students of yours many years ago, am I right? And you were head of Gryffindor House?"

"What are you insinuating, Verne?" McGonagall's voice rung with clear disdain at such a suggestion.

I wasn't really sure how to take in everything that was going on around me, so I remained seated, quietly watching the altercation.

"I think it's pretty clear what he's trying to say," Evane spit.

I was rather thankful that the other two strangers who'd come in had remained silent, because the four of them arguing with McGonagall was not a sight I wished to witness.

Verne and McGonagall pointedly looked at each other, with defiance fiercely shining in their eyes. Finally, Verne broke contact and spun around.

"Fine," He said, facing the door. "You want to leave this girl here at the school? Go ahead. But I'll have you know that should she step off school grounds, I'll have her. And if there's another attack at this school and we find that this girl is where all the evidence leads to again? Well, I'll have you."

And with that, Verne stormed out, as the others swiftly followed after.

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><p><strong><span>AN ~ So, yeah. Uhh, did you guys like this chapter? I know it's like super slow right now, and really, I've got no explanation. It's the only way I could set up a scene for my story... **

**Oh... and I changed the name of my fanfic, as you can probably tell. Its previous name made me cringe in humiliation every time I looked at it because it was so corny. But all is well in the world now, although this name is pretty corny as well. But I do have this whole philosophical explanation to go along with it. Apparently, diamonds symbolize love, excellence, purification, power, strength, brilliance and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, and Rose's name is... Rose. So, that is how 'Diamond Roses' came to be. :/**

**Haha, so, if you guys like my story at all, please review. Uhh... if you didn't, feel free to not review because if you do, I probably will end up in tears. **

**I'm so melodramatic. :P**

** -Anna B.**


	7. Consequences

**DISCLAIMER: I wish I could say I owned Harry Potter. But I can't. Mostly because if I did, I'd probably get sued. So, all rights go to JK Rowling. **

**Soooo... Chapter Seven... Yeah... I've been writing it for hours, so you _better_ enjoy. Haha, jokes, jokes. **

**CHAPTER #7 - Consequences**

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><p>After they'd left, Verne and company I mean, McGonagall instructed me to stay in her office for she had to take care of a few 'pressing matters'. From this, I took away the fact that McGonagall had, if not fully believed, then at least accepted my version of events as she trusted me enough to leave me be alone in such central area of Hogwarts.<p>

From the window high above me I could see dim light seeping through, meaning that morning had come. In a few hours, it would be all over the school that Rose Weasley of Gryffindor House had gone psychotic and assaulted her fellow roommate. Peachy.

I wasn't sure what I was to do now. I was, however, sure that my holiday plans were to be wholly delayed, if not entirely cancelled. Verne had warned McGonagall that I was not to be let off school grounds, and on that particular subject I doubted McGonagall would argue. When I'd first realized that fact, I'd been angry, then discouraged, and finally indifferent. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it, so I didn't feel the need to exert energy by distressing over it. I'd stay at Hogwarts for my winter break. Grandma Molly would send me my unsightly knitted scarf, Mum and Dad would contact me somehow every night, and everyone else I would see again when they came back from holidays. Between all that, I would have free time to scout through the extensive collections at the Hogwarts library and continue studying for my distantly upcoming O.W.L's. It wouldn't be so bad…

Yeah, right. It would be terrible! I'd be stuck here at Hogwarts, all alone, while every other student who was left behind would be scattering away from me, thinking I'd attack them in the middle of the night, too.

Before my frustrations could return to consume me, I laid my head back on McGonagall's desk, attempting to fall asleep as I had for the entire time she'd been gone. I'd failed, obviously, but the effort kept me calm. I'd already been here for hours, or so it seemed like, and the sleep which was not coming was indeed most welcome. I'd mostly spent my time examining the portraits of previous Headmasters/Headmistresses that were mounted on the wall opposite of me. I could've tried talking to them, but I knew well enough that they didn't speak to outsiders. Hence, me.

I groaned. By now, I was bored to tears. I almost wished that Verne was still here. At least he seemed like an eager conversationalist.

Yeah, this was going to be a long day.

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><p>When McGonagall came back in, I think I almost ran up to envelope her in the most grateful of hugs. Almost. What actually ended up happening was me standing up and standing there like a fool, gaping at her expectantly.<p>

"Miss Weasley," She greeted me.

"Professor!"

I'd tried to control my excitement, I really had.

"Please seat yourself. We have a few matters we must discuss."

Most energetically, I popped back onto my seat. She marched around to the Headmistress's seat, and concentrated on me.

"After conversing with our staff and examining these current circumstances, we have decided that it would be of great prudency to temporarily remove you from the Gryffindor Tower," She began.

My eyes widened, but otherwise I refrained from demonstrating my opinion.

"You would provisionally be moved to the Staff Wing…"

The Staff Wing? But the Staff Wing was in the…

"I realize that residing in the Dungeons would dramatically change your schedule, and therefore I suppose it's a good thing you will have this entire break to get used to this living situation. This brings me to my next point. Miss Weasley, you will not be allowed to leave Hogwarts grounds for the holidays. I'm sorry, but—"

"I can't stay in the Dungeons!" I burst out.

Being accused of something I hadn't done? Fine. Not going back to the Weasley residence for break? Alright. But living in the Slytherin locality? That's where I drew the line. They might as well have told me that they were about to send me off to live with the dead Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Miss Weasley—"

"Professor," I rudely interrupt her. "I can't stay there. The Dungeons _belong_ to the Slytherins. Gryffindor and Slytherin just don't get along. I _can't_ stay there."

"I understand your concerns, Miss Weasley, but it's out of my hands. Until this is all sorted out, I cannot allow you to remain in your present living quarters for a variety of reasons."

Could they even do this? I'd never heard of someone being kicked out of their House's sleeping area.

"I'm sorry, Miss Weasley," McGonagall finished.

I would've probably been furious with McGonagall, had she not ardently defended me earlier today. I knew that she wasn't doing this because it was truly her decision, but it still hurt. I didn't want my friendly neighbours to be the Slytherins! I just wanted to stay in my own residential tower, where I'd stayed for the past five years. My family and friends, if I still had any left, would be so unbelievably far away from me. I'd be alone. Completely, utterly alone.

This made me want to bawl, so instead I said, "When can I move my belongings?"

I'd tried to say it in an even voice, but it'd faltered and consequently betrayed me.

McGonagall looked at me with blatant pity, and now I was pretty irritated.

"They've already been moved," She told me.

"Oh."

I waited a moment.

"Could I at least go up and tell the Potter-Weasley's that I've been repositioned?"

Now, McGonagall waited a moment. By the expression on her face, I knew she wasn't about to say that they'd prepared a going away party for me up there.

"It's long past noon, Miss Weasley. Your family has already left."

They'd…left?

"Also, once again, until this matter is sorted please avoid entering the Gryffindor common room."

I blinked. And then, I began to float in a sea of apathy because I was over caring. This entire situation just collectively…sucked.

I stood up.

"I guess I'll go make myself comfy in my new living area," I said bitterly.

McGonagall nodded.

"It's probably the best time. All students who remain should be at dinner in the Great Hall, so the halls are empty," She said.

I endeavored to say something along the lines of 'thank you', after all, despite everything, McGonagall had done a lot for me, but nothing came out so I spun around and stalked out.

It felt thoroughly wrong as I walked down the Grand Staircase. When I was going to my bed, I usually went up. Slytherins were the lowly ones, they deserved the Dungeons. Gryffindors did not.

When I reached the Dungeons, I felt noticeably colder. I passed the Potions classroom and the office of our Potions Master, Professor Disraeli. The Staff Wing was the furthest away from the entrance to the Dungeons, slightly past the Slytherin common room.

When I reached the Slytherin Dungeons, I stopped. I'd never seen what they looked like; I'd never had a reason to. All the classrooms I ever needed in the Dungeons were the first ones in this hall.

My father had always said that Slytherins were the worst of the worst. Mum and Uncle Harry were more lenient. Mum never agreed or disagreed with Dad's adamant statements, but Uncle Harry would now and again remind Dad of the man whose name Albus bore as his middle name. Sometimes that threw me off because from personal experience I knew that the average Slytherin was a mean-spirited, spiteful wizard or witch. Then come along Uncle Harry's stories of a brave Slytherin and I'd have to wonder… And then I'd come to the conclusion that I sided more with Dad than anyone. Sure, once upon a time there might have been a tolerable Slytherin, but that was probably a fluke. Surely this Severus Snape persona was meant to be in Hufflepuff or something.

I shook my head, blinking as I came to the realization of the fact that I'd been standing in front of the Slytherin Dungeons, gawking, for the past few minutes. I heard footsteps behind me, and realized how timely it was that I'd snapped out of my trance. I twisted my body away from the Slytherin entrance and sped off down the hall. Or, at least, that's what I wish I could say happened.

What proceeded to happen was highly differing and far more mortifying. I'd taken a couple of steps down the hall before I classically tripped over the uneven dungeon ground, and theatrically hit the floor.

And from behind me I heard the voice of the person I'd have least liked to have witnessed this scenario in which I looked like an uncoordinated fool.

"Weasley?" Malfoy chortled.

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><p><strong>AN** **~ This is the part where I beg you guys for reviews. They make me happy. So please review. Haha, thaaanks. :P**

** -Anna B. **


	8. Scorpius POV

**DISCLAIMER: There is no possible way I could own this, for if I had, I would at present be vacationing in Hawaii and bathing in money - not implying that J.K Rowling does that. /:**

_Umm... Hey guys... I'M SO, SO SORRY. I wish I could say I've been battling a life-threatening ailment all this time, or saving endangered animals in Peru, but I haven't. I've been doing absolutely nothing. I have no excuse. You have my permission to make a voodoo doll of me, but please be forgiving in where you stick the needles in. I would love it if you kept away from my eyes, that would be spectacs. _

_Anyways, this isn't really a chapter 8. It's more of like an in-between chapter, since someone wanted a Scorpius POV. I figured I'd re-do the last chapter, but from a third-person perspective limited to Scorpius. Okay, so here you go. :b_

**CHAPTER #8 - Scorpius POV**

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><p>Scorpius Malfoy sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. He was pouring over the strategies he'd devised for their next Quidditch match as he ate his dinner. Even if Damien Bletchley <em>was<em> Captain, he knew that making the plans for the next game was a responsibility that fell on his shoulders. If Bletchley did have some sort of awakening anytime soon and suddenly decided to actually fulfill his duties as Captain for once, it was better that he did it anyways. Scorpius was, after all, easily the better player. As conceited as it may have sounded, Scorpius knew that had it not been for him, Slytherin wouldn't even be a serious contender for the Quidditch Cup this year. Bletchley was a fool; a charismatic, persuasive fool. He had no tactics, no discipline. His greatest contribution to the team had been a pretty face to represent them. And even then, his face wasn't actually _that_ pretty. Really, Bletchley had only been chosen to be Captain because he was brutally violent on the field and physically intimidating, which was the usual trademark of the Slytherin House Quidditch team... that, and Scorpius had declined to take the position.

They'd beaten Gryffindor in the first match of the year. They hadn't beaten them by enough points to feel comfortable. Truthfully, they'd been behind by a large margin for most of the game. If Scorpius hadn't beaten the Potter boy to the Snitch, then their chances at winning the cup this year would've looked a whole lot less optimistic. He presumed that the next two games would be much easier. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were both never really known for being Quidditch powerhouses. Their next game would be somewhere in mid January, against Ravenclaw. All Scorpius had to do was make sure that he and Daelan were ready, Daelan being basically the only other above average player on the team.

When he was done with dinner, he scooped up his sheets and quill, and turned to leave. He knew that when he reached the Slytherin common room there'd be loud music, extensive amounts of food and drink, and most of Slytherin house. It was, after all, the last night before most of the Hogwarts students left for winter break. He himself, however, would not be going back home, back to Malfoy Manor. Quidditch was but one among the many reasons for that.

As expected, when Scorpius entered the Slytherin common room, it'd already started. At the moment, the room was mostly filled with the third and fourth years. The younger kids probably wouldn't show at all, but the older ones would surely come later. It wasn't late enough for them yet.

Scorpius didn't stay there, and he hardly had any interest in coming down later. He'd participated in all this when he was younger, but now it was rather repetitive. He had better things to do.

He proceeded further into the room, set on returning to his dorm. However, Scorpius's passage was soon impeded when a girl placed herself in front of him. Polly Parkinson now blocked his way.

Polly was a small girl. Her hair was straight and black; her eyes only retracted the coldness that plagued them when she was around people of 'her own kind', and her face slightly resembled that of a pug... in a nice way.

"Scorpius!" She squealed.

Scorpius had now known Polly for a long time. He'd first crossed paths with her when he and his father had gone to Diagon Alley to purchase his school supplies just after he'd received his acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Turns out, his father had been acquainted with Polly's mum from back when he'd been enrolled at Hogwarts.

Polly would occasionally spend her time with Scorpius and his group, and would dote on him unnecessarily at first opportunity. Although Scorpius was aware of Polly's growing fondness for him, he, however, remained indifferent.

Scorpius nodded his head just enough for it to be noticeable, acknowledging her, and then made a move to walk past. She moved to match him, and blocked his way once more.

"Scorpius, oh you can't be going up to your dorm, can you? You're going to miss all the fun!" She said.

"I've got lots of things to do," Scorpius replied smoothly.

He tried to walk around her again. She stepped to the side to stop him again.

"But you have the entire holidays to do all of that!" Polly whined, "You don't mean that you won't come down at all tonight, do you?"

"I'm afraid that's exactly what I mean," He said monotonously, "And I've really got to go, so..."

This time when Scorpius stepped around her, Polly made no move to prevent him.

He didn't really have much to do. The professors, for the first time in years maybe, hadn't assigned much homework to do over break. Since he wasn't going anywhere, he didn't have to pack for tomorrow. Consequently, Scorpius had the rest of the evening to do with as he pleased.

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><p>When he reached the Great Hall the following morning for breakfast, there was an eerie mood surrounding the tables. The students, though vibrant and excited for the happenings of today, seemed to be oddly engrossed in conversations on another topic. Especially those at the Gryffindor table, Scorpius duly noted.<p>

When he seated himself at his usual spot at his table, his closest friend immediately turned his attention to him.

"Did you hear what happened last night?" Daelan began.

Scorpius merely shook his head.

"The Weasley girl assaulted someone in her dorm, I hear."

"Which one?" Scorpius asked, as there were quite a few of them.

"The one in our Dark Arts class, I think."

This slightly peaked Scorpius's interest, if only because of all the people he'd expect to become Hogwarts's Most Wanted one day, that Weasley girl was not the person.

"Assaulted?" Scorpius questioned, vaguely amused by the image of the Weasley girl jumping onto her unsuspecting victim with her weapon of choice in hand – a book – that had formed in his mind.

"Put some curse or something on a Gryffindor girl in our year while she was sleeping. Apparently, it was some really dark magic that even Madame Pomfrey's still not been able to fully undo yet."

Scorpius raised his eyebrow, but said nothing. Soon enough, the conversation took a different turn and the previous one was forgotten.

Still, as the day passed, Scorpius found that everyone seemed to be talking about what had happened in the Gryffindor dorms last night. Not only that, but they seemed frightened by even the mention of the events that'd transpired, which was understandable. Yet Scorpius was faintly baffled by the fact that people actually thought that the Weasley girl was the mastermind behind the attack. To him it appeared to be so bluntly obvious that there was no way it could've been her; that is, unless she was secretly harboring a multiple personality disorder. Plus, to be perfectly lucid, she wasn't that great of a witch. Sure, she was highly intelligent, Scorpius couldn't deny that. But an irreversible spell? An irreversible dark spell? That was way above her caliber of magic. That was way above _his_ caliber of magic.

By half past noon, most of Hogwarts was thoroughly empty. The remaining students were scattered throughout the castle, many of them swaying through the halls with clearly too much time on their hands and too little to do in that time. Scorpius wasn't usually one for commonalities, but yes, he too fell into the same category of students.

He debated on doing quite a lot of things. He could go practice Quidditch, go to the library and see if they'd let him take him take out something that wasn't PG-13 – though that one was a long shot, or write a letter to his mother explaining why exactly he wouldn't be coming home this year – most of it would be lies anyway. In the end, he just didn't feel like doing any of it. So, he simply decided to return to his dorm.

Scorpius walked through the dungeons, but stopped as he noticed a figure standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. So they had let Weasley out of confinement in the end. How regrettable, he thought, for he had been hoping they'd keep her in there for a while. To him, it was purely a research thing. Like a lab experiment. Keep Weasley locked up and see what would happen. Would she write a position paper on why she should be released? Or maybe she'd make a presentation on why exactly there was no way she could have been capable of committing the crime, and request to parade it in front of the ministers at the Ministry of Magic. Maybe she'd just say "to hell with it" and try to bust out of the castle so she could go form an army of insurgents to defend her honor. He could write a book on the last one and earn thousands of galleons. He'd name it _The Adventures of the Desperate Weasley_. Sounded like a best-seller.

Scorpius began to walk again, to some degree anticipating the amusement he would gain at the expense of Weasley in a moment, but at the sound of his footsteps, she snapped her body around and bolted forward. She would have been able to run away, had her foot not caught in her cloak and caused her to fall unceremoniously to the ground.

Scorpius couldn't hold back his laughter at that. Oh, this was going to be good.

He walked up right behind her, and through his snickering managed to say, "Weasley?"

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><p><strong>I hope that was good enough for a comeback semi-chapter. I'll admit, it wasn't my best work, but this has been in progress for like months (yeah, I know, how lazy am I?). Reviews would make me smile. Thank you for reading. <strong>

**- Anna B. **


	9. Bad, Better, Worse

**DISCLAIMER: J.K Rowling owns everything, but that's not news.**

**CHAPTER #9 - Bad, Better, Worse**

Face pressed against the floor, my red curls sprawling wildly around me, my body splayed pathetically, with Malfoy laughing behind me – at me – was indeed not exactly what I had imagined when I thought about my first night of winter vacation. But here I was anyway.

I pushed myself off of the stone flooring of the Dungeon, too emotionally exhausted from today to even care about how embarrassed I was. Sure, I could've stormed at Malfoy, drew my wand, committed an _actual_ crime, but I didn't. Instead, I calmly turned and flashed him a smile.

"Good to see you too, Scorp," I said cheerfully.

Mentally, my jaw dropped. Merlin, had I just called Malfoy 'Scorp'? Where the bloody hell did I get that from? Any of the previous amusement in his eyes had fled with my remark, and he now only bore a cold, hard expression.

Why was Malfoy even here? Last I heard, he wasn't being imprisoned for false allegations. This conversation was not supposed to be even taking place. It wouldn't have been if Malfoy had done Hogwarts a favor, as he had done each previous year, and crawled back under that distant rock he'd slithered here from – meaning Malfoy Manor.

"You know, after the lovely day I've been having, seeing your face truly does make it so much more special," My little sarcastic quips were not making the atmosphere any less hostile, but I couldn't help it. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go write about this moment in my diary so that I can treasure it forever."

"You do that," He replied coolly. "Just try not to curse anyone else on your way there."

That touched a nerve, and though I tried to suppress it, a hint of anger flared up inside me.

"Well, maybe you'll be my next victim, Malfoy," I hissed.

Though I hadn't exactly had high hopes of striking fear into Malfoy's heart with those words, I had at least expected a reaction other than the one I received. He snickered, and then looked at me with an almost pitying stare.

"You mean I'll be your first victim," He said, not even slightly disconcerted by my, admittedly, feeble threat.

I raised my eyebrow at him. Did he then not think that I…?

"I don't know why everyone doesn't see it," Malfoy continued flippantly. "They overestimate you far too much in my opinion; no way could you have done anything like that. You're not that good a witch."

It was meant as an insult, a gibe at my skills and talent, but oddly that comment probably had the most opposite effect of its intention. It restored my optimism that this situation could soon be resolved because surely if Malfoy could see that I hadn't been the perpetrator, then everyone else who had an equally minimum amount of brain cells would be able to see it too. Surely.

Still, this recognition of my innocence – from Malfoy, of all people – wasn't in any way going to lessen the fact that it was coming from Malfoy, of all people. His very presence was making me more and more irritated by the second; the arrogant set of his jaw, his blasé attitude to everything, and the aching reminder in the back of my mind of the events involving dear Professor MacQuoid – it was all making me scowl petulantly.

"Yeah, whatever, you miserable excuse for a wizard," I said, tired of this banter. "I'm leaving."

I didn't wait for him to say anything, though he probably wasn't going to either, and spun away. I marched forward down the hall, until I reached the Staff Wing.

Inside the Staff Wing, two white walls lined a narrow pathway. Doors were spread evenly across their lengths, and against one of the first ones, my belongings were carefully piled. I entered through the ordinary wooden door into my new living quarters, expecting the room to be somewhat like my previous living situation at best – nice, but economical and small. At worst, I thought it would have been a replica of a prison cell in Azkaban.

I was largely surprised. The room was spacious, with a bed perhaps twice the size of the one I had in the Gryffindor dormitory. A table was well situated against one of the rich mahogany walls, supplied with an armchair. Certainly, this was a shockingly nice room for someone who was under suspect for attacking a student.

I rested myself on the bed, which swallowed me with its softness. Perhaps this relocation thing wouldn't be so bad. While I was in this secluded bubble, I could almost forget that I was only a short distance away from the nest of pure evil – Slytherin House.

* * *

><p>"So Dad opens it, and there's <em>two<em> packets of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans," Al howls with laughter. "Can you believe it? After all that build-up, I actually thought James was going to have a wicked gift. But he just gets them _more_ of what he usually gets them. And you should have seen him. I've never seen James look more proud of himself in his life!"

It was the first day of classes, though none of the students seemed anywhere close to ready to let the holidays go. Al was animatedly retelling me some of the most memorable parts of the holidays I didn't get to partake in over breakfast.

Since I hadn't been there, I was trying to relive the Weasley-Potter annual gathering vicariously through Al, but it was just making me feel worse. So much had happened, and I hadn't been there for any of it. As childish as it was, I was a little annoyed that everyone had such a good time without me.

"But you know it wasn't the same without you, Rosie," Al sighed. "Dad was at the Ministry every day except for Christmas, with your parents of course, trying to find out what the bloody hell was happening. And all that bollocks they wrote in The Daily Prophet! I don't know how they get to print stuff like that."

"What, you mean the daughter of one of the most famous couples in the Wizarding World isn't 'clinically insane, obviously mental' and my favorite 'The Reincarnation of Voldemort' as some of the articles may have suggested?" I scoffed.

Damn Rita Skeeter. That old bat hadn't printed a single line of truth, and yet everyone seemed more than happy to gobble up her convoluted theories without question.

"That last one is absurd, and everyone knows it. The first two… well, a lot of people just want to be a part of something so they'll believe in anything, Rose," Al offered.

"I guess," Rose conceded. "We should go, first class starts soon. I bet my left lung MacQuoid's not one of the few people who are on my side right now, and I am not giving him any reason to be more of an arse than usual today."

"Right you are, Miss Weasley," A voice said from behind me, one which made me regret with every fiber of my body what I just said. "You really shouldn't give me more reason to be, what was it? Ah yes. More of an arse than usual."

Al stilled beside me, and I meekly glanced behind me.

"Professor, I –" I started.

"Ten points from Gryffindor."

And he walked off, as if he wasn't the most juvenile, unreasonable, conceited man to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts.

"Bloody hell, Rose," Al looked pale.

I probably reflected some of his whiteness. We could both agree that after this episode, MacQuoid was definitely going to be more of an arse than usual.

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><p><strong>AN ~ I am CRYING. I literally didn't update this for over a year and I don't even know what to say. There is nothing to say. I am speechless (and sorry; I am speechless and very, very sorry). **

**- Anna B. **


	10. The Second Time

**DISCLAIMER: J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter, and we all know that. **

**Chapter 9 - The Second Time**

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><p>"I don't get it, Hagrid! Take today, for example. I raised my hand to answer a question, and he took ten points from Gryffindor for my supposed 'excessive need to oversaturate the classroom with my inflated ego' by continuing to raise my hand to offer a response to every question he asked. If he doesn't want <em>answers<em> to his questions, then maybe he shouldn't _ask_ questions to begin with. Can he even do that – take points off for no legitimate reason? There have to be rules against abuse of power as a professor, right?" I complained, glaring at the cup of tea Hagrid had set before me. "Just because I said some things about him, which were completely true by the way, and he – unfortunately for the both of us – overheard. How petty."

Hagrid laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. His large frame shook the table a little with the action.

"Don't yeh worry 'bout it too much, Rose. Some professors like yeh, some professors don't. Just ask yer parents 'bout it. They would have loads o' stories to tell yeh. When they were in fifth year, there was this particularly nasty one, named Umbridge. Now she were a real piece o' work. Made yer mum and dad's lives miserable while she were 'ere," He told me.

"I guess," I sighed. "Wish I was still taking Care of Magical Creatures, though. I wish I could've fit it into my schedule Hagrid, I really do."

I hadn't had enough room in my timetable to keep Hagrid's class as an elective. I'd taken it in both third and fourth year, and it had always been a nice break from all the other classes. Mum had told me that if I really wanted to take it, there was a way to do it. But time-travel sounded far too complicated, especially when it wasn't precisely the class I missed, but Hagrid.

"S'alright. Yeh know you and yer family are always welcome 'ere," Hagrid said warmly.

I nodded, getting up. If there was one place at Hogwarts that still felt like home to me, it was Hagrid's little cabin.

"I better be heading back. I'll bring Al with me next time I visit," I said, sipping the rest of my tea. "Thank you, Hagrid."

It was dark outside by the time I left, almost curfew. I walked briskly, mostly because of how cold it was. The castle was filled with light ahead of me – truly a magical sight.

And then I heard it. A cry of terror, distant, yet so unmistakably like the one I heard on the night Astra was cursed. I froze, unable to decide what the right thing for me to do was. If someone was hurt, I had to go. I had to go help them. But the reminder of that night, the accusations and the threats from Verne in McGonagall's office, made me hesitant.

The cry lasted only seconds, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared leaving only silence, but the scream echoed in my head. I had to go. I had to.

My feet were moving before I could reconcile the motion in my mind; I was running towards the Whomping Willow. My wand was already in my hand, a jinx ready to slip from my lips at first notice.

I stopped as close to the Whomping Willow as I dared to; it seemed that there was nothing there, though the moonlight beamed down too dimly for me to be certain.

"_Lumos." _

In my peripheral vision, my wand light illuminated a motionless body. I gingerly rotated myself to face it, trembling as I forced myself to move towards the figure veiled by grass and the darkness of night.

Suddenly, the body shifted and before I could stop myself, I cried, "_Impedimenta!"_

I rushed to the body, dropping to my knees to inspect the frozen shape, only to find – Dumbledore help me – Malfoy. The spell left him in an immobile state for all of ten seconds, and once it wore off, a look of fury crossed his face.

"Are you _bloody mad_, Weasley?" I couldn't say I blamed him for yelling.

His wand was raised at me in expectance of another jinx, I suppose. I pointed mine right back at him, although he was probably a little more justified to do this than I.

"Mad? I'm sorry for not thinking that a body slumped on the ground by the Whomping Willow at night is actually Malfoy trying to get in touch with nature!" I countered, irrationally continuing to argue when I rather knew that I was in the wrong. But it was Malfoy, and I couldn't bring myself to apologize to him.

"So your first reaction was to jinx me?" He seemed almost baffled. "Couldn't even call out once to see if I'd respond?"

"Whatever, I'm leav—" I stopped. "Actually, wait, did you hear a scream right before I – you know –hexed you?"

"What, did you curse any other unsuspecting students on your way here?" He lowered his wand a little.

"No, I'm serious. I came here because I heard someone scream," I explained. "It sounded like last time."

"Last time?" He laughed mirthlessly. "Look, Weasley, you might need to go see Madam Pomfrey if you're hearing voices these days. I didn't really believe what people were saying about you before, but you're making it awfully easy for me to believe it."

Unfortunately, he was right. Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices wasn't a good sign. Obviously the scream had once again led me to nothing, other than Malfoy of course (so nothing), and therefore I couldn't exactly say that it was real. But it had sounded very, very real.

"You're sure?" I asked skeptically.

"It was dead silent 'till you showed up, Weasley," Malfoy said, walking past me. "_I'm_ leaving."

I looked around for a few seconds, half expecting to see another body somewhere, but there wasn't one. The only noise I could hear was that of the wind, and Malfoy departing. Still, it all seemed eerie – too eerie for me to stay here by myself.

"Hey wait!" I called after Malfoy, running to catch up to him.

Unsurprisingly, he hadn't stopped at all.

"Are you following me now, Weasley?" He said, then added indifferently, "You're not my type."

I wasn't at all offended. I would have been more offended had he said I was. The odd thing was, though _I_ personally found Malfoy positively loathsome, far too many other girls didn't – probably part of why he was so arrogant. It's not like I could deny that he was definitely good-looking. Platinum hair, piercing grey eyes, tall, defined muscles – everything. But his personality should have been enough to repel anyone. Not to mention his family – Dad was always particularly explicit whenever Draco Malfoy came up in casual conversation, and by the looks of it, Scorpius had inherited an awful lot from his father.

"You see right through me," I answered mockingly. "There go all my hopes and dreams."

He didn't reply to that, outright ignoring me as we marched back up to the castle in unified silence. Once we were inside, I promptly detached myself from Malfoy, though we were both heading down to the dungeons and curfew had long passed. Now that my prefect authority was, as McGonagall had said, 'momentarily suspended in light of recent circumstances', I didn't have the leisure of roaming the halls after curfew. So a few minutes later, I headed down as well.

Once I was alone, the scream reemerged in my mind, a memory that would stay with me for a long time to come. I heard it. Even if no one believed me, I knew I heard it. And somehow, that unsettled me more than anything.

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><p><strong>AN ~ Hey, another chapter! (I'm amazed.) And yeah, I did shamelessly steal that line about voices from the second HP movie. Oh well. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading. (:**


	11. Explanations

**DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter is very much J.K Rowling's. **

**Chapter 11 - Explanations**

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><p>The following afternoon I was in the midst of crushing moonstone for my Draught of Peace potion when McGonagall entered the classroom.<p>

"Professor Disraeli, I wonder if I may borrow Miss Weasley?" She phrased it as a question, though her stern voice effectively told me that I was going to walk out with her immediately.

Professor Disraeli still produced a courteous nod, and I was forced to abandon my endeavor. I stood up, glanced uncertainly at Al who returned my gaze with curiosity, and followed after her. McGonagall marched me to the Headmaster's Tower, tight-lipped and unwilling to speak a word except to get us past the gargoyle staircase. Upon entering her office, my mood quickly sobered and reflected that of hers.

"There she is!" Verne spat, eyeing me reproachfully.

My eyes widened, heart raced, and nerves wakened.

"Miss Weasley, please have a seat," McGonagall gestured to an empty chair by her desk.

I did as asked, though a little unsteadily.

No one else sat down; instead, they all gathered around me – circling me.

I recognized Verne, obviously, and his dedicated follower Evane. The other five individuals were foreign to me, and the only face in the room that brought me any comfort whatsoever was McGonagall's.

"Yesterday evening, what we have traced to be around nine o'clock, there was another attack on a student. This assault had striking similarity, both in victimology and execution, to the attack on Miss Caverly – which I have been made aware you were a prime suspect in," One of the men from Verne's party relayed monotonously.

Another attack. The scream. Proof that it was real. Truthfully, I wanted to break into tears in front of them and beg them to believe me when I said I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know why it kept happening around me. I wanted to be vindicated. But the atmosphere in the room told me that the worst possible thing I could do right now was ask for mercy, so instead I kept the tears to myself.

The man who had spoken obviously had more influence than Verne, evidenced by how he was the one to tell me about the nature of my supposed crimes. He stood tall, his dark eyes unwavering as he inspected my face, and I almost retracted from the intensity of such a gaze. Still, I tried to pretend that I wasn't intimidated.

"And you think I did it?" I said venomously. "Don't you think you've done enough with all of your speculation? Locking me up in Hogwarts, not letting me go back home, removing me from my dorm, don't you think that's enough action based on _no_ solid evidence?"

"Now, Miss Weasley," The man replied, his voice soaked in patronization. "No need to take this so personally. I am sure you and I can agree that these cases must be investigated to fullest capacity, yes? Let's start with you telling me where you were around nine o'clock last evening."

No need to take it personally? Was this guy serious? This was as personal as anything could possibly get. Fury – all I felt right now was fury consuming me.

"I was at Hagrid's a little before then," I said rigidly. "I was back at the castle around the time of this alleged attack."

He raised his eyebrow at me, "And this Hagrid is the groundskeeper here, is that right?"

I nodded stiffly.

"And to get from his place of residence, you would have to walk by the Whomping Willow, if I'm not mistaken, Miss Weasley," He continued, as if he didn't even care about my answers anymore.

I simply nodded once more.

"What did I tell you?" Verne burst out.

I flinched, surprised by the unexpected forcefulness of his voice, especially in contrast with the other man's soft yet penetrating one.

"I told you, Minerva," Verne continued, his face growing redder by the second. "I told you. You defended her, and I warned you what would happen if I found out it was her!"

I looked over at McGonagall, who appeared more tired than I had ever seen her, and she just exhaled and kept herself from snapping back. Ignoring Verne, she turned to the other man.

"Eldritch, surely you cannot be insinuating that this circumstantial evidence is going to be enough to accuse Miss Weasley of a crime of such gravity," She told him evenly.

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing!" Verne cried. "You're still defending her, Minerva! How can you keep –"

"Verne, please,' Eldritch cut him off. "Minerva, as you can see, this would simply be a staggering coincidence."

The man, Eldritch, turned to me.

"Miss Weasley, did you make Hagrid's acquaintance alone?" He pressed.

"Yes."

"With no one to corroborate that Miss Weasley returned to Hogwarts Castle without incident, I'm afraid Minerva –"

This time I cut him off.

"There is!" I exclaimed, causing six pairs of eyes to focus on me with undivided attention. "There's someone who can verify that."

"I don't think the testimony of one of your family members will provide adequate assurance, Miss Weasley," Eldritch said dismissively. "I'm sure most of them would say just about anything to keep you from facing the consequences of your actions."

I glared at him unabashedly and said, "Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy."

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><p>I had to find Malfoy.<p>

After my proclamation, I had been swiftly released. On my way out, I overheard them stating that they needed to bring Malfoy in for questioning. I had to find him and plead with him to confirm that he came back to the castle with me last night. His word was everything; he literally now held the power to ruin me and I wasn't all that sure he wouldn't use it.

Classes were over by now, so I decided to begin my search in the Great Hall. Once I got there, my eyes immediately scanned the Slytherin table, only to be disappointed. Malfoy wasn't there.

"Rose!"

I jumped, spinning around to find Al standing behind me.

"What happened in Potions today? Where did McGonagall take you?" He asked.

"Al, I'll tell you all about it later," I spoke hurriedly. "But right now, have you seen Malfoy anywhere?"

He nearly recoiled at my question.

"Malfoy? Why would you need Malfoy?" Then laughing, he added, "For that matter, why would _anyone_ need Malfoy?"

"Al!" I said, a little short on patience. "I'm serious. Have you seen him?"

He looked at me, as if he still couldn't quite understand, but then shrugged and said, "Slytherin's day for Quidditch practice, so he's probably at the pitch."

I didn't wait to hear anything else, running like mad to the Quidditch pitch. They would probably bring Malfoy in tonight for questioning, and I had to get to him first.

Like Al had said, tonight was Slytherin's practice day, as I found out when I saw the sea of green and silver in the air above me when I entered the pitch. A few scattered supporters sat around lackadaisically on the bleachers, watching the Slytherin players fly around on their broomsticks.

I spotted Malfoy easily; his hair really did make him stand out from everyone. Aside from how uncomfortable the idea of me crashing a Slytherin practice was, the other issue was that he was far too high above me for me to call him down without attracting too much attention. There really was only one way to do this.

I positioned myself directly in the center of the pitch, pointed my wand to the sky, and yelled, "_Periculum!"_

Red sparks shot out from the tip of my wand, soaring up. This successfully got the attention of, well, everyone.

The first of the players to fly down was the captain, Bletchley. The rest followed closely.

"Weasley," Bletchley snarled, advancing towards me.

Bletchley was physically intimidating in his build, and I backed up a couple of steps as he came closer. He seemed exceptionally aggravated.

"Right, okay," I cleared my throat softly. "I need to borrow Malfoy for a couple of minutes, if you would be so kind. Sorry about interrupting your practice and all – well, actually, in the interest of honesty, I'm not all _that_ sorry because I hope you lose – oh! I mean, I'm a Gryffindor so of course I hope you lose, nothing against you but—_"_

"Weasley!" Thankfully, Malfoy interjected. "Is there something you need?"

"You."

It was an unfortunate phrasing that I regretted as soon as it escaped my mouth, because the immature "ooo's" and the laughing began instantaneously.

"Merlin, Malfoy's got Weasley chasin' after him!" Bole taunted.

"I mean, I need to talk to you!" I tried to shout over the hoots and cries of absolute juvenile amusement.

"She wants to 'talk' to him!" Bole ridiculed, laughing far too hard at something I found not funny in the least.

My grip on my wand tightened. The foul little git wouldn't stand a chance if I hexed him.

"Alright!" Malfoy hollered. "Daelan, take over the training. Everyone back up."

It was odd that Malfoy seemed to be the authority here, and even Bletchley didn't argue with his instructions though _he _was supposedly captain. Everyone silenced themselves immediately, and with a few final sneers and a pure, unadulterated look of hatred directed at me from Sefton, they all flew back up.

"You better have a bloody good reason for doing this, Weasley," Malfoy warned, leading me off to the side.

We faced each other, him waiting expectedly, and me struggling find the words to begin. In the end, it all just tumbled out from me.

"You have to tell them the truth!" I said, nearly hysterical. "You have to. They're going to bring you in for questioning and you have to tell them that you saw me yesterday when I was walking back from Hagrid's and that you walked back with me to the castle. I don't care about your trivial dislike of me – if there's some semblance of a human inside you, you're not going to wreck my life beyond repair."

"What?" His eyes clouded with confusion. "What are you even talking about? Why would I be brought in for anything?"

"There was an attack yesterday. By the Whomping Willow, I think. And now they think I did it because of what happened with Astra, but I didn't and you know it because you were there. If anything, _you_ should be the suspect, really. _I_ was just passing by! This bureaucracy is so ridiculous, they don't know how to do anything right and –"

"Weasley!"

"Right. So just tell them we went back to the castle together Malfoy, okay?" I finished, staring up at him imploringly.

He bit the side of his lip, thinking, then said, "So, the scream, was it… real?"

My eyes widened, "You can't tell them about that!"

"I thought you said I had to tell the truth," Malfoy argued.

"I meant the other truth! The truth that doesn't get me tossed into a mental facility until I'm as old as McGonagall," I told him, since he obviously didn't understand the most basic of concepts. "And also, please leave out the part where I jinxed you. That's not going to reflect nicely on me."

"Reflect nicely on you?" He repeated, stunned. "Maybe you shouldn't go around jinxing people then."

"I told you, it was a mistake. I've learned from it. Next time I'll assume that all dark masses laying around Hogwarts's grounds are you, and I won't jinx them."

"You sound like you've learned nothing."

"What do you mean by noth—"

"Malfoy!" Sefton slowed his broom a few meters away from us. "How much longer is the Weasley girl going to be bothering you?"

"We're done here," Malfoy said, and he swung himself onto his broom, racing past Sefton.

I didn't even have time to call after him, to ask if he knew how important it was that he did as I said. If Malfoy helped me this time, I swore to myself that I would forgive him for everything like a saint. I would forgive him for setting me and Al up, I would forgive him for being an irritating prick, and hell, I would even admit that Slytherin House had half-decent wizards in it.

This time, I depended on Malfoy more than anyone.

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><p><strong>AN ~ Wow, yet _another_ chapter! (I'm even more amazed.) Thank you to everyone for reading! Also, I kind-of changed the name of this fic... again. Haha, this should be the last time though! Promise. (:**


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